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Writer's pictureSharon Prigan

How do I Downsize

I am often asked how do I downsize. There are a number of ways in which I could downsize my fabric stock, which is still huge even after my last session of donating 200 boxes of fabric. I could donate more, which I most probably will after some sorting, but I can also create.


One of the practical ways to create and downsize is to sew square feet of crumb patchwork pieces in a particular color family. I then have a supply of square feet of presewn patchwork pieces which are waiting in the box to be transformed into a number of items.


The square feet can be used to create pillows, pouches, bags, curtains, tunics and patchwork quilts to name a few.


I decided to begin with a few of the blue boxes. I sorted them into grays and powder blues and while sorting I saw that I had many pieces left over from the rag quilts that I sewed a and gifted a few years ago so I decided to create a quilt to be gifted to the recipient of this rag quilt.



blue and grey rag quilt hanging on a clothing line int he garden


I sorted the colors and the tone is very similar to the rag qult.



blue and grey fabric pieces on a table


I initially included these 2 colors as well but after looking at them a second time I decided to take them out of the mix.



blue tie dyed fabric strips and blue flannel fabric strips


This is the color mix that I kept



pile of blue and grey fabric pieces on a table


The rag quilt that was gifted and the colors that I chose for the crumb quilt. Blue and powder blue fabric pieces with some dark tan and greys in the mix.







To give them an even bluer feel I chose 3 spools of blues from my sewing thread stash



3 spools of blue sewing threads and a pair of scissors on a table


I strip piece them on the sewing machine and then have one long train of strip pieces which have to be cut apart.






and then sorted into piles of the different sized crumb pieces



sewn crumb pieces and spools of thread and scissors on a table


As the pieces are sewn the size of the stash shrinks and becomes very organized.



blue sewn crumb quilted pieces on a table


I need a certain amount of sq feet to create a qult but I am creating as many as I can so that I have ready made sq feet for future projects in my downsized stash of fabrics.


As the quilt progresses I will be writing more so follow to see.



 


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